Multi-user and multi-device collaboration

ABSTRACT

Multi-user, multi-computing device collaborative work experience is provided. One or more computing devices, including wired and wireless personal computers, laptop computers, servers, handheld mobile computing devices, for example, mobile telephones, tablet type computers, slate type computers and the like, may be linked together to allow users of such devices to engage in a collaborative work session. Information for each user engaged in the collaborative work session may be displayed on the one or more devices along with any content such as agenda items, documents, data, images, and the like. User participation may be tracked, and information on user participation, work session communications and content may be stored for subsequent use.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/253,839, filed Oct. 5, 2011, titled “Multi-User and Multi-DeviceCollaboration” and now U.S. Pat. No. 8,682,973, which is related to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/253,886, filed Oct. 5, 2011, and titled“Workspace Collaboration Via A Wall-Type Computing Device”, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

With the advent of computers and computer systems, users have beenafforded useful technologies for managing documents of various types,data of various types, calendar information, contacts information, andthe like. Users are able to create and share useful presentations,charts, images, and the like. However, one area that is often lacking isthe ability of the multiple users, particularly where multiple users areoperating from one or more different computing devices, to collaboratefreely with a multitude of data, documents, presentations, images, andthe like. Indeed, it is not uncommon for users to gather in a conferenceroom armed with printed paper documents, presentations, or other,followed by hand-writing collaborative information on a board, andfollowed by transcription of such information onto one or more notepadsor into one or more computing devices. Such a collaborative experiencetypically fails to efficiently utilize the valuable time ofparticipants, and particularly, valuable information is often lost owingto a failure to record and/or distribute the information in a meaningfulway.

It is with respect to these and other considerations that the presentinvention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention solve the above and other problemsby providing for a multi-user, multi-computing device collaborative workexperience. According to an embodiment, a collaborative workspaceapplication allows for the sharing of a multitude of applicationfunctionality and associated documents and/or data across multipledevices and/or multiple display surfaces. A multitude of computingdevices, including wired and wireless personal computers, laptopcomputers, servers, handheld mobile computing devices, for example,mobile telephones, tablet type computers, slate type computers and thelike, may be linked together to allow users of such devices to engage ina collaborative work session.

According to one embodiment, a central computing surface, for example, awall type display surface or display screen may serve as a focal pointfor a collaborative work session. One or more computing devicesassociated with one or more users may be operatively associated with thecentral computing surface for displaying documents or other data fromthe one or more computing devices to the central computing surface.Alternatively, the wall type display surface or display screen maycontain its own computing functionality for displaying any desireddocuments or other data without interaction with other computingdevices.

Upon commencement of a given collaborative work session, a work sessionor meeting file store may be created and stored for the work session.Users desiring to join the collaborative work session may log into thesession. Once a given user is logged into the work session, an image,such as a photograph or avatar for the user, may be displayed on thecentral computing surface along with information for the user showinghis/her name, presence status, and other valuable information.Alternatively, users may join a collaborative work session withoutlogging into the session. For example, users may be joined to a sessionbecause of their inclusion in a collaborative workspace or team to whichthe collaborative work session is directed. Or, if log-in is requiredfor a given session, such log-in may be done passively, for example,upon entrance of a given user to a room where a session in beingconducted as detected by face recognition, voice recognition, RFIDdetection of a card or device being carried by the user or by otherinformation, such as presence data showing the user is in the room orproximity of the collaborative work session.

Next, users who are part of the collaborative work session may displayon the central computing surface one or more agenda items, documents,data, images, and the like. Displayed content may be edited,manipulated, revised, etc., and all content may be saved to the worksession or meeting file store for subsequent use by work sessionusers/members. Importantly, content displayed and edited on the centralcomputing surface may be displayed remotely on display surfaces (e.g.,computing device display screens) of computing devices operated byusers/members of the collaborative work session situated remotely fromthe central computing surface. According to embodiments, being situatedremotely from the central computing surface may include being situatedin the same room as the central computing surface but being associatedwith a computing device not physically connected to the centralcomputing surface, for example, a laptop computer, tablet computer,mobile telephone, etc. Input from such remotely situated users/members(and associated devices) may be displayed on the central computingsurface and on other remotely situated but associated devices. Thus,users/members of the collaborative work session may share a multitude ofdocuments and data across multiple devices, and the product of thecollaborative work session may be saved in association with thecollaborative work session for subsequent use by the users/members ofthe collaborative work session.

In some collaborative work sessions, the display surface or displayscreen may be used to provide information about session participantswith no interaction with/from the participants (e.g., computing deviceinteraction). For example, information such as names, personalinformation, communication types in use, etc. may be displayed foradding value to the session without interaction with the display surfaceor screen via one or more computing devices.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and description below. Other features and advantages will beapparent from a reading of the following detailed description and areview of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that thefollowing detailed description is explanatory only and is notrestrictive of the invention as claimed.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the detaileddescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a system architecture for amulti-user and multi-device collaborative work session.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a computer-generated displayscreen showing user and content collaboration in a collaborative worksession.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a computer-generated displayscreen showing user and content collaboration in a collaborative worksession.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of a computer-generated displayscreen showing user and content collaboration in a collaborative worksession.

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a computer-generated displayscreen showing user and content collaboration in a collaborative worksession.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing andconducting a collaborative work session according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7A is a simplified block diagram of a computing device with whichembodiments of the present invention may be practiced.

FIG. 7B is a simplified block diagram of a wall-type computing deviceand associated systems for interacting with the wall-type computingdevice with which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are simplified block diagrams of a mobile computingdevice with which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a distributed computing systemin which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As briefly described above, embodiments of the present invention aredirected to a multi-user, multi-computing device collaborative workexperience. According to embodiments, a plurality of users may log intoa collaborative work session from one or more computing devices. Thatis, each of the plurality of the users may log into and conduct acollaborative work session together in a central location, for example,a conference room, or each of the plurality of users may log into andparticipate in the collaborative work session from separate remotelysituated computing devices that are linked together through adistributed computing network for conducting the collaborative worksession. A central computing surface, for example, a wall type displaysurface or large display screen may be designated as a central displaysurface for the collaborative work session. Once the plurality of usersare logged into the collaborative work session or are otherwiseassociated with the collaborative work session, identifying information,for example, photographs, images, or avatars representing the pluralityof users may be displayed along with other identifying information forthe plurality of users on the central computing surface. As users enteror otherwise participate in the collaborative work session, informationassociated with such participation may be displayed for the users andfor the information of other users/members of the collaborative worksession.

Content, including documents, images, data, and the like may bedisplayed on the central computing surface from each of one or morecomputing devices associated with the collaborative work session and/orfrom a central work session or meeting file store. Edits, revisions, orany other manipulation of work session content may be performed on thecentral computing surface, or via any computing device operativelyassociated with (e.g., networked with) the collaborative work sessionand operatively associated with the central display screen. Editedcontent may simultaneously be displayed on display screens associatedwith any computing devices operated by any participating users of thecollaborative work session. Content produced for, displayed for, edited,or otherwise manipulated as part of the collaborative work session maybe stored to one or more storage media including a work session ormeeting file store for subsequent use by users/members of thecollaborative work session.

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawingand the following description to refer to the same or similar elements.While embodiments of the invention may be described, modifications,adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example,substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elementsillustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may bemodified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosedmethods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limitthe invention, but instead, the proper scope of the invention is definedby the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a system architecture for amulti-user and multi-device collaborative work session. As illustratedin FIG. 1, a plurality of users associated with a plurality of computingdevices may be networked together for conducting a collaborative worksession. Each of the plurality of users and computing devicesillustrated in FIG. 1 are shown to be remotely situated from each other,but as should be appreciated, embodiments of the present invention areequally applicable to a plurality of users engaging in a collaborativework session in a single location, for example, a conference room orother meeting location, wherein all of the functionality describedherein may be utilized in a single location. For example, the pluralityof users illustrated in FIG. 1 may desire to create and engage in acollaborative work session for developing a new product line for theiremployer. Each of the users may decide to meet in a single location, forexample, a company conference room for developing and/or editing orotherwise manipulating one or more project documents, or one or more ofthe users belonging to the collaborative work session may join andparticipate in the collaborative work session from a remote location,for example, from another city, country, building, or any other locationfrom which the user may connect with the collaborative work session, asdescribed herein.

Referring then to FIG. 1, a plurality of applicable computing devicesthat may be joined together for conducting a collaborative work sessionare illustrated and described. The display unit 105 is illustrative of alarge display screen associated with a computing device operative todisplay content on the display surface 110. The display unit 105 mayalso be in the form of an integrated computing device and display. Thedisplay unit 105 is also illustrative of a wall type displaysurface/unit onto which content may be projected from a projectiondevice associated with a computing device, or the unit 105 may beillustrative of a wall type display surface/unit from which rearprojection may be utilized for displaying content on the display screenor surface 110 of the display unit 105. According to embodiments, thedisplay unit 105 and associated display surface 110 may be utilized as acentral display for users/members of a collaborative work session fordisplaying a multitude of information about participants and a multitudeof various types of content, as will be described below. Alternatively,no display unit may be designated as a central display, and each displayunit associated with each computing device associated with a worksession may be equally operative as a focal point when the user of eachdisplay unit is talking or presenting content. As illustrated in FIG. 1,a user 147 is illustrated in proximity to the unit 105 and isillustrative of one or more users who may be situated in the operatingarea of the unit 105 for engaging in a collaborative work session.

The telephone device 170 is illustrative of a conventional wired orwireless telephone from which a work session participant 135 may callinto the work session for participating in the work session. Thecomputing device 180 is illustrative of a conventional wired or wirelesspersonal computer, a tablet or slate type computing device, a laptopcomputer, or any other suitable computing device from which aparticipant 152 may engage in a collaborative work session with otherparticipants by entering, editing, or receiving data through thecomputing device 180. The device 175 is illustrative of a handheldmobile computing device, for example, a mobile telephone, operated by aparticipant 142 for entering, editing, or receiving participantinformation or content associated with the collaborative work session.

According to one embodiment, work session participants may be situatedremotely from each other and may engage in a collaborative work sessionvia the devices 170, 175, 180. According to another embodiment, beingsituated remotely from each other may include the case where theparticipants are in the same location as the central display unit 105(e.g., same meeting room as a wall-type computing/display unit 105), andthe participants may interact with the central display unit and witheach other by providing input via their individual devices 170, 175,180. In either case, information input via any of the devices 170, 175,180 may be displayed on the central display unit 105 and may bedistributed out to each participant for display on the devices 170, 175,180.

According to embodiments, prior to the commencement of a collaborativework session, each participant and his/her computing and/orcommunications devices 170, 175, 180 may register via the collaborativeworkspace application 166 (described below) for participation in thecollaborative work session. Alternatively, all users/members of a givenworkspace (for example, members of a project to develop a new softwareapplication) may be automatically registered for inclusion into thecollaborative work session prior to commencement of the session.Registration of users/members with a given work session may beaccomplished via an active or passive log-in to the given work sessionaccording to a variety of means as described below with reference toFIG. 2.

Referring to the display unit/surface 105, 110 illustrated in FIG. 1, arepresentation or icon is displayed along the lower edge of the displaysurface 110 for each computing and/or communication device that isregistered or otherwise associated with the collaborative work session.Such representations may be displayed to allow participants to know ofthe identity of the various computing and/or communications devices thatare connected to the session, or such representations may take the formof selectable controls that may be selected to allow access to thesession by one or more of those devices. According to another displayview, these representations may be displayed next to representations ofthe users to which they are associated (described below). According toembodiments, information from any of the one or more devices registeredwith a given work session may be automatically presented onto thedisplay unit/surface 105, 110 or may be shared to the displayunit/surface 105, 110 on demand. Likewise, such information may beautomatically presented or shared to display surfaces/screens of thevarious associated devices 170, 175, 180.

A server 165 is illustrative of a local or remote computing/storagedevice on which may be operated a collaborative work space application166 operative for connecting the plurality of computing devicesassociated with the collaborative work session, operative for allowingcommunications between the participants 135, 142, 147, 152, andoperative for allowing retrieval from and storage to a meeting filestore 167 at which participant information and content associated with acollaborative work session may be stored.

The network 160 is illustrative of a distributed computing networkthrough which each of the disparate devices illustrated in FIG. 1 maycommunicate. For example, the network 160 may be an Internet-basednetwork through which each of the devices may communicate via variousweb services platforms. Similarly, the network 160 may be anintranet-based system operated by an employer of each of theparticipants of the collaborative work session, and the like. As shouldbe appreciated, in a case where each of the participants and each of thecomputing devices illustrated herein are situated at a single location,each of the computing devices may be connected directly to the server165 without being connected through the network 160. Alternatively, eachof the computing devices associated via a given work session may beconnected to each other as a peer-to-peer network among the computingdevices without being connected through the server 165.

According to embodiments, during the operation of a collaborative worksession, as described herein, one of the display devices, for example,the display unit 105 may be designated as a central display unit andsurface for displaying participant information and work session contentreceived from and passed back to various participants in thecollaborative work session. In such a case, the display unit designatedas the central display unit/surface for the collaborative work sessionmay be addressable from other participating computing devices to allowinformation input through participating computing devices to be sent tothe designated central display unit 105 via the network 160. Forexample, if the display unit 105 is designated a central computingsurface unit for a given collaborative work session, then data input viathe computing devices 180, 175, or information received through thetelephone device 170 may be addressed to the device 105 so that inputfrom participants utilizing those devices may be passed directly to anddisplayed on the central display unit/surface 105, 110. Likewise,information received, displayed and/or edited on the central displayunit/surface 105, 110 may be passed back through the network 160 fordisplay on each of the participating computing and/or communicationdevices 170, 180, 175.

According to one embodiment, the collaborative workspace application 166is operative to interpret input received from each of the units 105,170, 180, 175 for addressing the input directly to the designatedcentral display unit 105. That is, information input may be passedthrough the collaborative workspace application 166 from outside aparticular meeting room containing the central computing unit/surface105, 110 from the units 170, 175, 180 (e.g., messaging from the mobiledevice 175 to the meeting room via the application 166). Thus, eachparticipant in the collaborative work session operating from one or moreof a plurality of networked computing and/or communications devices maycontribute information about themselves and may contribute contentthrough the devices for display on each of the devices in addition todisplay on the designated central display unit/surface 105, 110.

Referring still to FIG. 1, the central display unit 105 includes adisplay surface 110 on which a variety of attendee information for eachof the meeting participants may be displayed and on which a variety ofcontent associated with the collaborative work session may be displayedfor editing, updating, or otherwise manipulating in accordance with thedesires of the participants of the collaborative work session. As shouldbe appreciated, such information about each of the participants of thecollaborative work session and such information about the contentassociated with the collaborative work session may be displayed on eachof the computing devices 175, 180 associated with various participantsin the collaborative work session, as described above.

According to embodiments, user input to each of the computing devicesand associated display units/screens 105, 175, 180 may be performedaccording to any of a number of suitable input means. Conventionalkeystroke/mouse input may be utilized, touch screen input on each of thedevices may be utilized, electronic pen/inking (for example, electronicstylus, or user finger touch) input may be utilized, voice input via amicrophone operatively associated with each of the devices may beutilized wherein voice commands are converted from speech to text, andresulting text is utilized for providing commands to the collaborativeworkspace application 166 and for providing text-based input to each ofthe computing devices 105, 175, 180. In addition, voice input from thetelephone device 170 may be received through the network 160, andassociated voice content may be converted from speech to text for use ina similar manner.

In addition, one or more gesture-based commands may be received forproviding data input to the computing devices 105, 175, 180. Accordingto an embodiment, for purposes of receiving gesture-based input andvoice-based input, each of the devices 105, 175, 180 may be coupled witha camera 115 that may be operative to record and capture motions and/orgestures made by a participant 142, 147, 152. Consistent withembodiments of the invention, such a camera may be operative to providemotion detection capable of detecting movement from the participants142, 147, 152 for interpreting the movements as commands for causingchanges in application functionality or changes in content associatedwith the collaborative work session. For example, a camera may comprisea Microsoft® Kinect® motion capture device comprising a plurality ofcameras and a plurality of microphones for capturing both motion andvoice or other audio information.

Referring now to FIG. 2, according to one embodiment, as eachparticipant 135, 142, 147, 152 joins a given collaborative work session,each participant may be required to log into the collaborative worksession so that identification and other information about eachparticipant may be tracked and displayed for the benefit of otherparticipants, so that computing devices in use by each of theparticipants may be registered with the collaborative workspaceapplication 166 for communication with the collaborative work session,so that communications received from each of the participants may bepassed through the collaborative workspace application 166 for displayto other participants, and so that content, for example, documentsand/or other data distributed by or edited by each participant may beshared with other participants in the workspace session. As should beappreciated, a user may engage in a collaborative work session withoutlogging into the work session, but such a user may have limited accessoptions to the work session. For example, such a user may be able toreview displayed information, but such a user may not be able to displayhis/her information or content.

According to embodiments, participants may manually log into a worksession as described below with reference to FIG. 2, or participants maybe automatically logged in based on presence status. For example, if auser enters a room in which the collaborative work session is beingconducted, his/her presence may be detected, as described below, andhe/she may be automatically logged into the session.

Referring to FIG. 2, a login dialog box or user interface component 235is illustrated that may pop up on a display screen in use by eachjoining participant. A participant may be required to enter his/her name237, identifying information for a workspace or work session 240, and apassword 235 for determining and/or authenticating the user's rights andprivileges for accessing and joining the desired collaborative worksession.

According to other embodiments, a participant may be logged into a givencollaborative work session and/or his/her computing devices may beregistered for association with the work session according to a varietyof other active or passive means in addition to logging in via a logindialog box as illustrated in FIG. 2. According to one embodiment,presence status information for a participant (described below) showingthe participant is in a proximity (e.g., same room) of the location of acollaborative work session may be used for automatically logging theparticipant in or associating the participant with the work session.According to another embodiment, voice recognition, facial recognition,retinal scanning, fingerprint/thumb print/hand print recognition and thelike may be used for identifying a participant for logging in orotherwise associating the participant with a given collaborative worksession. For example, identification of a participant via facialrecognition may be compared against a database of users who may beassociated with a given work session, and upon identification andauthentication of such a user (if required), the user may beautomatically logged into or otherwise associated with the work sessionto allow information for the participant to be displayed as part of thesession as described below. Other suitable identification means such assmartcards, personal identification number (PIN) entry pads, and thelike may be used for identifying a potential participant and for loggingthe participant or otherwise associating the participant with a givenwork session.

According to another embodiment, a given collaborative work session,including the central computing device 105, 110 may be associated withan electronic calendaring system for assisting in establishing a givenwork session, for determining presence information for participants (asdescribed below) and for maintaining information about a given worksession. For example, the collaborative workspace application 166 maycontain its own calendaring functions, or the application 166 may callon the functionality of a separate calendaring application forestablishing a given work session. For example, if a calendar entryshows that five participants of a given workspace will conduct acollaborative work session at a given time and location, the workspaceapplication 166 may parse the calendaring function for identities ofeach of the participants. A room for the session may be automaticallyreserved, and a the appropriate time, participant information may beautomatically displayed on the central computing device 105, 110, andany additional devices 170, 175 and 180 may be automatically registeredwith the work session to allow information from those devices to bepublished to the central display device (e.g., wall type display unit).In addition, based on calendaring information for participants,documents and other data from identified participants may beautomatically obtained for inclusion in the work session, including fordisplay on the various associated computing devices. Use of suchcalendaring information may be in response to the sending of a meetingrequest identifying a set of participants and a meeting location.

Referring still to FIG. 2, once the collaborative work sessioncommences, a variety of information for each participant who has joinedthe work session may be collected by the collaborative workspaceapplication 166 and may be presented and displayed on each displayscreen of each computing device operatively associated with and joinedto the collaborative work session, including the designated centraldisplay unit/space 105, 110 illustrated in FIG. 2. According to anembodiment, a photograph, video of the user, image, avatar, or otheridentifying object may be displayed for each participant who has joinedthe collaborative work session. As illustrated in FIG. 2, an avatar 140has been displayed for participant 142, an avatar 145 has been displayedfor participant 147, an avatar 150 has been displayed for participant152, and an avatar 155 has been displayed for participant 135. As shouldbe appreciated, the use of an image, such as an avatar, may reduceprocessing needs and thus optimize the processing associated with thecollaborative work session as opposed to the use of photographs, livevideo feeds or the like that may require additional processing time andmemory.

Referring still to FIG. 2, a variety of information may be provided onthe display for each participant in the collaborative work session. Forexample, in addition to each participant's name 210, presence status 215may be provided for each participant. According to embodiments, presencestatus for each participant may be obtained from a variety of presencestatus means. Presence status information for each participant mayinclude the participant's current physical location, whether theparticipant is moving or not, calendar information, for example, whetherthe participant is in a meeting or other function, and the like.According to embodiments, as presence status for any given participantchanges, the change in presence status may be automatically reflected inthe display of the presence status for that participant. Presence statusmay be obtained from calendaring application associated with eachparticipant and may be obtained by the collaborative workspaceapplication 166 from an appropriate storage medium, for example, acalendar data storage medium operated by the employer of theparticipants. For example, a first participant 142 may have logged intothe collaborative work session upon the commencement of thecollaborative work session, but that participant may have been calledinto a different meeting before the end of the collaborative worksession. The presence status for that participant may thus change toindicate that he/she is currently engaged in a different meeting toallow other participants in the work session to know of a currentpresence of the subject participant. Presence status may also bedetected by monitoring wireless communications between a participant'smobile devices (e.g., mobile telephone, mobile tablet computing device,laptop computer, and the like) and wireless receivers associated withwireless communications providers or associated with wireless “hotspots,” for example, WIFI zones in which the participant is located.Presence status may also be detected by passing location information,for example, location information obtained via the aforementionedcalendaring function or location information obtained from a globalpositioning satellite system associated with a participant's mobiledevices to the collaborative workspace application 166. In addition,presence status may be obtained by other means such as radio frequencyidentification (RFID) devices (e.g., RFID access card) carried by theparticipant that may be detected when the participant enters an area inwhich a work session is being conducted.

In addition, without the requirement of participant login to acollaborative work session, a plurality of participants may beassociated with a given collaborative workspace that is the subject of acollaborative work session who may have logged into work sessions forthe collaborative workspace previously and for whom identificationinformation is presented as illustrated in FIG. 2. For any participantwho is a member of the associated collaborative workspace but who hasnot logged into the present collaborative work session, presence statusinformation 215 may be utilized for determining the location and/orpresence status of a particular member of the collaborative workspace atany given time to allow other members of the collaborative workspace tounderstand why the participant may not be participating in the presentcollaborative work session.

Whether a given participant is logged in or not, presencestatus/information may be very useful to other participants engaged in acollaborative work session. For example, if a given participant isparticularly important to a given work session and his/her presencestatus shows “moving” as determined by location determining meansassociated with his/her mobile device, that presence status may allowother participants to contact the “moving” participant via his/hermobile device to add him/her to the work session. Indeed, suchpositioning information may be used to give up-to-date presenceinformation for a given participant. For example, when a participantwalks into a conference room in which a collaborative work session inbeing conducted, his/her presence status may change as he/she walks intothe room to show that he/she is now in the present in the meeting.Likewise, if the presence status for a potential participant shows thepotential participant is in another meeting at this time, then otherparticipants will know that the work session will have to proceedwithout involvement from the potential participant.

In addition to identifying information and presence status information,information showing the level of participation of various participantsmay be displayed. For example, an indication 220 of which participant ispresently talking/speaking may be provided for each participant engagingin a collaborative work session. Other types of indications 220, forexample, avatars with moving lips or other useful graphical displays,may be used to indicate which participant is presently talking. Suchgraphical information is particularly useful for participants locatedremotely from the room or area containing the central computing device105, 110.

As should be appreciated, a microphone associated with each participant,for example, a microphone operatively associated with each participant'scomputing and/or communication device, or microphones physically locatedat each station of a conference table, or the like may be used foridentifying through voice or other audio input which participant ispresently talking during a given collaborative work session. Suchinformation is particularly useful for participants who are engaged inthe collaborative work session from remote locations. For example, ifone participant is engaged in a collaborative work session from his/hertablet style computing device 180 and is not in the same room with otherparticipants engaged in the collaborative work session, then anindication of which participant is presently talking will beparticularly useful to the remotely situated participant in identifyingto whom his/her responses should be directed.

Other useful information may be provided such as a metering display 225for indicating the amount of participation associated with eachparticipant. For example, if a first participant has been talking 50% ofthe duration of the present collaborative work session, an indication ofthat percentage of the total session time may be indicated in the meter225. If another participant has only talked 5% of the total session timeinvolved in the present collaborative work session that indication maylikewise be provided. Such information may be useful to participants toallow participants to know whether they are adequately participating ina given work session, or to know whether they are possibly participatingtoo much in a given collaborative work session.

In addition, a messages box 230 may be provided to display text-basedmessages from participants as opposed to voice communications whileother participants are talking. For example, if a first participantdesires to send an electronic mail message of “Please display theconstruction memo” while another participant is presently talking, thatmessage may be sent, and the message may be displayed in the message box230 associated with the sending participant so that other participantsmay see the message without requiring the sending participant tointerrupt a participant who is presently speaking. For another example,a participant who is late for the present work session may send amessage such as “running behind—be there in 10 minutes,” and the messagemay be displayed to allow other participants to know when the tardyparticipant will join the session. That is, the message box 230 may beused to display information relevant to a participant's attendance orlack thereof in a given work session. As should be appreciated, thedisplay of messages sent by a particular participant may be displayed bythe collaborative workspace application 166 in concert with anelectronic mail application, text messaging application, speech-to-texttranscription application, and the like.

As should be appreciated, the information for participants of theexample collaborative work session is illustrated in an orderedalignment along the left side of the example display screen. As shouldbe understood, identifying information for each of the participants maybe displayed in a variety of organizational orientations, including arandom scattering of information on the display screen or surface, asdesired by the participants of the collaborative work session.

According to embodiments, in addition to identification information,presence information and participation information for participants of agiven work session, other general information of potential interest toparticipants may be obtained and displayed by the collaborativeworkspace application 166. For example, news information relevant to acollaborative work session may be displayed for use or enjoyment byparticipants, including news items relevant to or associated withparticipants or work session topics, weather conditions at each locationassociated with each participant, and the like. For another example,interesting facts, for example, sports scores, associated withparticipant locations, historical facts associated with participantlocations, and the like, may be obtained and displayed. News storiesassociated with the collaborative work session may be obtained anddisplayed. Indeed, as should be appreciated, any information of interestto participants may be obtained and displayed in addition to substantivework session content in use by participants. Such collateral informationmay be useful for starting discussions among participants, buildingpersonal relationships among participants, and the like.

Referring now to FIG. 3, during a given collaborative work session, avariety of content items may be displayed to participants of thecollaborative work session for review, editing or otherwise manipulatingthe displayed content. Displayed content may be displayed through theapplication 166 through the network 160 from any of the associatedcomputing devices operated by any of the participating users, or thecontent may be retrieved from the session or meeting file store 167where it was previously stored before, during or after a previouscollaborative work session. As illustrated in FIG. 3, an agenda document122 displayed on the display surface 110 containing a variety of agendaitems for the collaborative work session, a document 125, for example, aword processing document is displayed, and a spreadsheet document 130 isdisplayed on the display space 110.

In addition to the types of content items illustrated in FIGS. 2-5,calendaring and tasks information may be displayed for the collaborativework session and for individual participants in a given work session.For example, calendaring information for each participant may bedisplayed in proximity to other information displayed for eachparticipant which may be useful to allow participants to track their owncalendars during a work session as well as the calendars of otherparticipants. In addition, task lists for the collaborative work sessionand/or for individual participants may be displayed. According to oneembodiment, tasks in a tasks list for the collaborative work session maybe mapped to individual participants such that next steps in theactivities of the collaborative work session may be captured anddisplayed for all participants to review.

According to embodiments, applications responsible for providing suchcontent items (e.g., calendaring applications, notes applications, wordprocessing applications, spreadsheet applications, etc.) may be areoptimized for providing content in association with a large display 110to allow for a variety of input means such as touch and gestures atvarying distances form the display 110. In addition, interactions withcontent items displayed for the work session (as illustrated in FIG. 3)may be accomplished via associated other devices, such as the telephone170, mobile telephone 175, wired or wireless computer 180, and the like.Thus, a user experience may include interaction with one or moredisplayed content items via a variety of interaction and input means.

As illustrated in the lower right hand corner of the display space 110,a close view interface component 325 is illustrated. According toembodiments of the present invention, the close view user interface 325is a user interface component in which content and selectable controlsmay be displayed for use by a participant who is physically located nearthe display surface 110, for example, a participant who is presentlypresenting one or more presentations to other participants. For example,the close view user interface 325 may be a display of the desktop of thepresenting participant 147's laptop computer that is operativelyconnected to the collaborative work session. Similarly, the close viewuser interface 325 may be a display of documents presently stored forthe collaborative work session at the meeting/session file store 167. Inaddition, selectable functionality controls 335, for example, iconsassociated with one or more software applications, for example, wordprocessing applications, spreadsheet applications, slide presentationapplications, and the like may be presented in the close view userinterface 325.

For example, a given participant 147 may be standing a short distance,for example, two feet, from a wall type display unit 105 on which isdisplayed participant information and content being viewed by each ofthe participants of a given work session. The close view user interface325 may provide a display of the presenting participant 147's laptopcomputer on which he/she has stored one or more documents or othercontent items he/she desires to present to each of the otherparticipants in the collaborative work session. If the user selects anapplication functionality or content item from the close view userinterface 325, the corresponding application functionality or contentitem may be displayed on the designated central display unit 105 andassociated display surface 110 and on each display unit associated witheach other computing device operated by other participants situatedremotely from the central display unit. That is, if the examplepresenting participant selects a document 125 from the close view userinterface 325 for presentation to the other participants, the document125 may be presented as illustrated in FIG. 1 on the display devices ofeach of the other participants in the collaborative work session.

As should be appreciated, if the information contained in the close viewuser interface 325 is specific to a particular presenting participant asopposed to being a display of information from a meeting/session filestore 167 for the work session, then when a subsequent presentingparticipant comes to the display area, the subsequent presentingparticipant may quickly display his/her desired presentation informationin the close view user interface component 325 for presentation to theother participants, as described above. As should be appreciated, anysuitable input means may be utilized for selecting information from theclose view user interface 325, for example, touching the display surfaceof the close view user interface 325, dragging information from theclose view user interface 325 to the display surface 110, keyboardentry, mouse entry, voice command, gesture command, and the like.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a variety of content items is illustrated onthe designated central computing unit 105 and display surface 110. Thecontent may be displayed on the display surface 110 according to astructure desired by participants, or the content may be dragged ontothe display surface 110 in a cluttered non-uniform manner to allow afree flowing interaction between the participants, as illustrated inFIG. 4. For example, one or more content items may be associated with agiven agenda item and may be displayed while that agenda item is beingprocessed. Another one or more content items may be associated withanother agenda item and may be assembled off to one side or corner ofthe display surface 110 waiting until the associated agenda item isreached. As described above, a participant operating remotely from thedesignated central display unit may drag and drop content onto his/herdisplay and cause a display of the dragged and dropped content onto thedisplays of each of the participants. Likewise, each participant mayenter, edit, or otherwise manipulate data contained in any of thedisplayed content for the benefit of each participant in thecollaborative work session.

According to one embodiment, electronic pen/ink edits may be done oneach display surface capable of receiving electronic pen/ink input. Forexample, an electronic pen stylus, or a finger of a participant may beused to write, draw, sketch, or otherwise annotate in association withor onto content items displayed for the work session. Importantly, editsto displayed content, regardless of input means, may be saved with thedisplayed content for subsequent use by present or future participantsin a collaborative work session in association with the content beingedited during the present collaborative work session.

According to one embodiment, application functionality utilized by thecollaborative workspace application 166 may allow for free formelectronic pen/ink style input to be associated with various documentcontent types. For example, a user may utilize an electronic pen stylusor his/her finger to sketch a spreadsheet table onto the display surface110 containing various rows, columns, and resulting cells. The usersubsequently may sketch numeric data into one or more cells forcompleting the sketched table. According to embodiments, thecollaborative workspace application 166 in concert with spreadsheetapplication functionality, for example, Excel® manufactured by MicrosoftCorporation, may transfer numeric data entered into the hand-drawn tableinto a corresponding spreadsheet table that may be maintained by anelectronic spreadsheet application, for example, the aforementionedExcel® spreadsheet application. Likewise, hand-written text (e.g., notes450, 455), or captured voice or speech-to-text input may be translatedto corresponding text information that may be saved in a correspondingword processing application, for example, Word® manufactured byMicrosoft Corporation. Thus, information input into the collaborativework session by various input means may be integrated with variouscontent items, for example, word processing documents 125, spreadsheetapplication documents 130, slide presentation application documents 445,notes applications documents 450, 455, and the like.

According to embodiments, the collaborative workspace application 166 asa standalone application or in concert with application functionality ofother suitable applications (e.g., word processing applications,spreadsheet applications, slide presentation applications, notesapplications, and the like) may optimize the display of content items onthe central computing device and display 105, 110. According to oneembodiment, content items may be “shredded” and various pieces ofcontent items may be extracted from content items for display. Forexample, a document displayed on the display 110 may include an embeddedchart. The workspace application or another associated application maybe operative to pull the example embedded chart from the displayeddocument for displaying the embedded chart in a larger size on thedisplay 110. For example, a hand gesture by a participant or a drag/dropaction from a participant may be used to extract the example embeddedchart from the displayed document and for moving the extracted chart toanother display position for review by participants.

Such shredding of a document may also allow for optimized processing ofcomponents of documents by the workspace application 166. For example,once a given object, such as the example chart, is extracted from theassociated document, the workspace application 166 or anotherapplication called by the workspace application 166 may operate on theextracted example chart without needing to consume and manipulate othercontent (e.g., word processing content, photographic content, and thelike) form the document from which the chart is extracted.

At the conclusion of a given collaborative work session, informationentered, displayed, edited, or otherwise manipulated may be saved forthe collaborative work session so that participants of the collaborativework session or future participants in a collaborative work sessionabout the same or similar content may review the content. Likewise,spoken communications occurring during a collaborative work session maybe recorded, and an audio recording or text-based transcript of theaudio recording may be stored with the content of the collaborative worksession so that present participants or future participants in acollaborative work session regarding the same or similar information asthe present work session may in effect “play back” the collaborativework session as desired.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, navigation of information displayed in anysuitable display surface or display screen associated with thecollaborative work session may be performed according to a variety ofsuitable means. For example, referring to the lower left corner of FIG.4, a pair of navigation bars 204, 205 are illustrated for allowing thedisplay space 110 to be scrolled upward and downward or to the right orto the left, as desired. In effect, the display space 110 may take theform of an infinite white board that may be scrolled in any direction toallow room for additional content input or to review content inputpreviously entered that is no longer in the visible display area. Asshould be appreciated, the display of information for each of theparticipants may be maintained at all times in the visible display arearegardless of the movement of other content in an up, down, right orleft orientation so that participants may always see information forother participants even while content that is displayed is being movedrelative to movement of the display area.

Referring to FIG. 5, an alternate navigation means is illustrated. Anavigation pane 510 is illustrated in the lower left corner of thedisplay surface 110. Inside the navigation pane 510 is a representation515 of content presently displayed in the display surface 110. Accordingto embodiments, a presenter or other participant may navigate throughcontent displayed on the display space 110 by touch input in thenavigation pane 510. For example, a participant, using his/her finger,may touch the display space contained in the navigation pane 510, and bydragging upward or downward or to the right or to the left, may causenavigation movement through the content displayed in the display space110. As should be appreciated, the navigation mechanisms described aboveare in addition to other conventional navigation means, for example,keyboard entry and mouse entry, as well as other navigation means, forexample, voice navigation command, gesture navigation command and thelike. For example, a voice command of “scroll up” or “scroll down” maybe used for scrolling the display space 110. Likewise, gesture commands,for example, waving a participant's hand up for scrolling up or waving aparticipant's hand down for scrolling down, or waving a participant'shand right for scrolling right, or waving a participant's hand left forscrolling left may be utilized for navigating content contained in thedisplay surface 110.

Alternatively, the content items illustrated in the navigation pane 510may be illustrative of content items that are available for display onthe display 110, but that are not presently displayed. Interaction withthe content items illustrated in the navigation pane 510 by aparticipant (e.g., by touch, gesture, voice command, etc.) may be usedfor causing a display of desired content items on the central display110 and on displays of associated computing devices 170, 175, 180.

Having described a system and operating architecture for a multi-user,multi-computing device collaborative work experience, FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for establishing and conducting acollaborative work session according to embodiments of the presentinvention. The routine 600 begins at start operation 605 and proceeds tooperation 610 where a collaborative work session is established. Forexample, if a new collaborative workspace and associated collaborativework session is to be established, a file store at the file store 167may be set up for receiving content before, during or after thecollaborative work session. Any computing devices, for example, remoteservers 165, meeting store locations 167, other computing devices,projection devices, display devices, and the like may be identified.Next, a display device, for example, the display unit 105 illustratedabove may be designated as a central display unit and surface 110 fordisplaying information during the collaborative work session.

At operation 615, any participants wishing to join the collaborativework session who have appropriate permissions to join the work sessionmay log into the collaborative work session, as described above withreference to FIG. 2. At operation 620, information for participants whohave logged into the collaborative work session may be displayed, asillustrated and described above. As should be appreciated, informationfor participants who are not presently logged into the collaborativework session may also be displayed for the benefit of otherparticipants, where those participants have previously been part of thecollaborative work session, but who are not involved in the presentcollaborative work session. Alternatively, identification of andinformation for any participant associated with a given workspace forwhich the work session is being conducted may be associated with anddisplayed at operation 620.

At operation 625, activities of logged in or associated participants maybe tracked, for example, tracking presence status, tracking talkingstatus, tracking a percentage of talking, and the like, as describedabove. At operation 630, participant tracking information may bedisplayed for the benefit of other participants of the collaborativework session.

At operation 635, any content distributed by any participant of thecollaborative work session, for example, content distributed by apresenting participant via the close view user interface 325 may bedisplayed on a display surface of any computing device associated withthe work session, for example, on a designated central computingsurface. Such content then may be distributed out to other displaydevices associated with computing devices in use by remotely situatedparticipants. At operation 640, additional content may be received frommultiple sources associated with various other participants in thecollaborative work session.

At operation 645, any edits to content received form one or morecomputing devices associated from one or more participants in thecollaborative work session may be received and may be displayed on eachassociated display device including the designated central computingsurface. At operation 650, content received, edited, or otherwisemanipulated including recordings and/or transcripts of participantcommunications may be stored for the collaborative work session at themeeting/session file store 167. The routine ends at operation 695.

The embodiments and functionalities described herein may operate via amultitude of computing systems, including wired and wireless computingsystems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, tablet orslate type computers, laptop computers, wall-type computers, etc.). Inaddition, the embodiments and functionalities described herein mayoperate over distributed systems, where application functionality,memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions maybe operated remotely from each other over a distributed computingnetwork, such as the Internet or an intranet. User interfaces andinformation of various types may be displayed via on-board computingdevice displays or via remote display units associated with one or morecomputing devices. For example user interfaces and information ofvarious types may be displayed and interacted with on a wall surfaceonto which user interfaces and information of various types areprojected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems withwhich embodiments of the invention may be practiced include, keystrokeentry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entrywhere an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g.,camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures forcontrolling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.FIGS. 7-9 and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of avariety of operating environments in which embodiments of the inventionmay be practiced. However, the devices and systems illustrated anddiscussed with respect to FIGS. 7-9 are for purposes of example andillustration and are not limiting of a vast number of computing deviceconfigurations that may be utilized for practicing embodiments of theinvention, described herein.

FIG. 7A is a block diagram illustrating example physical components of acomputing device 700 with which embodiments of the invention may bepracticed. The computing device components described below may besuitable for the computing devices described above, for example, thecomputing devices 105, 175, 180 and the server and data systems 165 and167. In a basic configuration, computing device 700 may include at leastone processing unit 702 and a system memory 704. Depending on theconfiguration and type of computing device, system memory 704 maycomprise, but is not limited to, volatile (e.g. random access memory(RAM)), non-volatile (e.g. read-only memory (ROM)), flash memory, or anycombination. System memory 704 may include operating system 705, one ormore programming modules 706, and may include a web browser application707. Operating system 705, for example, may be suitable for controllingcomputing device 700's operation. Furthermore, embodiments of theinvention may be practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, otheroperating systems, or any other application program and is not limitedto any particular application or system. This basic configuration isillustrated in FIG. 7A by those components within a dashed line 708.

Computing device 700 may have additional features or functionality. Forexample, computing device 700 may also include additional data storagedevices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magneticdisks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated inFIG. 7A by a removable storage 709 and a non-removable storage 710.

As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may bestored in system memory 704, including operating system 705. Whileexecuting on processing unit 702, programming modules 706, such as thecollaborative workspace application 166 may perform processes including,for example, one or more method 600's stages as described above. Theaforementioned process is an example, and processing unit 702 mayperform other processes. Other programming modules that may be used inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention may includeelectronic mail and contacts applications, word processing applications,spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentationapplications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc.

Generally, consistent with embodiments of the invention, program modulesmay include routines, programs, components, data structures, and othertypes of structures that may perform particular tasks or that mayimplement particular abstract data types. Moreover, embodiments of theinvention may be practiced with other computer system configurations718, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments of theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network via one or more communicationsconnections 716. In a distributed computing environment, program modulesmay be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may be practiced in anelectrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged orintegrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizinga microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements ormicroprocessors. For example, embodiments of the invention may bepracticed via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of thecomponents illustrated in FIG. 7A may be integrated onto a singleintegrated circuit. Such an SOC device may include one or moreprocessing units, graphics units, communications units, systemvirtualization units and various application functionality all of whichare integrated (or “burned”) onto the chip substrate as a singleintegrated circuit. When operating via an SOC, the functionality,described herein, with respect to the collaborative workspaceapplication 166 may operated via application-specific logic integratedwith other components of the computing device/system 700 on the singleintegrated circuit (chip). Embodiments of the invention may also bepracticed using other technologies capable of performing logicaloperations such as, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but notlimited to mechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. Inaddition, embodiments of the invention may be practiced within a generalpurpose computer or in any other circuits or systems.

Embodiments of the invention, for example, may be implemented as acomputer process (method), a computing system, or as an article ofmanufacture, such as a computer program product or computer readablemedia. The computer program product may be a computer storage mediareadable by a computer system and encoding a computer program ofinstructions for executing a computer process.

The term computer readable media as used herein may include computerstorage media. Computer storage media may include volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information, such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Systemmemory 704, removable storage 709, and non-removable storage 710 are allcomputer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) Computer storagemedia may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, electricallyerasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore information and which can be accessed by computing device 700. Anysuch computer storage media may be part of device 700. Computing device700 may also have input device(s) 712 such as a keyboard, a mouse, apen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. Output device(s)714 such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included.The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used.

The term computer readable media as used herein may also includecommunication media. Communication media may be embodied by computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other datain a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” may describe a signal that has one or morecharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communicationmedia may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wiredconnection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF),infrared, and other wireless media.

FIG. 7B is a simplified block diagram of a wall-type computing deviceand associated systems for interacting with the wall-type computingdevice. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, a computing device105 and associated display 110 may serve as an operating environment forembodiments of the present invention. According to one embodiment, thedevice 105 may be in the form of a combination computer/display or thedevice 105 may include a display onto which information and content areprojected from a forward or rearward projector. According toembodiments, a given work session may be conducted by integration of avariety of computing devices as illustrated in FIG. 1, or a given worksession may be conducted entirely with the use of the wall-typecomputing device 105 illustrated in FIG. 7B where all informationdisplayed on the display 110 is associated with one or more participantslocated in the area of the device 105.

The device 105 may be associated with a variety of ancillarydevices/systems for allowing interaction with the device and associateddisplay. Referring to FIG. 7B, an on-board camera 115 may be operativeto allow videoconferencing with other computing devices 170, 175 and180. A remote camera 116 may likewise provide such functionality. Thecameras 115, 116 may also be operative for detecting gestures fromparticipants for interacting with the application 166 and the device 105as described above.

An on-board microphone 120 and an array of remote microphones 121 may beoperative to receive audio input from participants 740 for audio and/orvideo conferencing (including teleconferencing between/amongparticipants in proximity of the device 105 and remote participants) andfor providing voice commands to the application 166 for interacting withthe application 166 and the device 105. According to one embodiment, thearray of microphones may also be used for directing the cameras 115, 116in the direction of audio input, for example, a speaking participant.

As described above, a variety of means may be employed for allowing aparticipant to register or log into a given work session. Referringstill to FIG. 7B, a smart card reader 725 is illustrative of a devicefor reading an identification card either through physical contactbetween a card and the reader 725 (e.g., card swipe) or throughsignaling from the card to the reader (e.g., RFID signaling). Afingerprint scanner 730 is illustrative of a device for allowing alogging in participant to join a session via a scan of a finger, thumb,hand, or facial image. A retinal scanner 735 is illustrative of ascanner for identifying a participant based on a scan of theparticipant's eye.

In addition, as described above, location information for a givenparticipant may be obtained via a variety of location means, and suchlocation information may be used for both joining a participant into awork session and for providing information about the participant toother participants. A global positioning satellite system 720 isillustrative of a number of location determining means for providinglocation information for a given participant to the application 166.Location and/or presence information for a given participant maylikewise be determined by other means as described above.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a suitable mobile computing environment, forexample, a mobile telephone 175, a smartphone, a tablet personalcomputer, a laptop computer, and the like, with which embodiments of theinvention may be practiced. With reference to FIG. 8A, an example mobilecomputing device 175 for implementing the embodiments is illustrated. Ina basic configuration, mobile computing device 175 is a handheldcomputer having both input elements and output elements. Input elementsmay include touch screen display 805 and input buttons 815 that allowthe user to enter information into mobile computing device 175. Mobilecomputing device 175 may also incorporate an optional side input element815 allowing further user input. Optional side input element 810 may bea rotary switch, a button, or any other type of manual input element. Inalternative embodiments, mobile computing device 175 may incorporatemore or less input elements. For example, display 805 may not be a touchscreen in some embodiments. In yet another alternative embodiment, themobile computing device is a portable phone system, such as a cellularphone having display 805 and input buttons 815. Mobile computing device175 may also include an optional keypad 835. Optional keypad 815 may bea physical keypad or a “soft” keypad generated on the touch screendisplay.

Mobile computing device 175 incorporates output elements, such asdisplay 805, which can display a graphical user interface (GUI). Otheroutput elements include speaker 825 and LED light 820. Additionally,mobile computing device 175 may incorporate a vibration module (notshown), which causes mobile computing device 175 to vibrate to notifythe user of an event. In yet another embodiment, mobile computing device175 may incorporate a headphone jack (not shown) for providing anothermeans of providing output signals.

Although described herein in combination with mobile computing device175, in alternative embodiments the invention is used in combinationwith any number of computer systems, such as in desktop environments,laptop or notebook computer systems, multiprocessor systems,micro-processor based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,mini computers, main frame computers and the like. Embodiments of theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network in a distributed computing environment;programs may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.To summarize, any computer system having a plurality of environmentsensors, a plurality of output elements to provide notifications to auser and a plurality of notification event types may incorporateembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8B is a block diagram illustrating components of a mobile computingdevice used in one embodiment, such as the computing device shown inFIG. 8A. That is, mobile computing device 175 can incorporate system 802to implement some embodiments. For example, system 802 can be used inimplementing a “smart phone” that can run one or more applicationssimilar to those of a desktop or notebook computer such as, for example,browser, e-mail, scheduling, instant messaging, and media playerapplications. In some embodiments, system 802 is integrated as acomputing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant (PDA)and wireless phone.

One or more application programs 866 may be loaded into memory 862 andrun on or in association with operating system 864. Examples ofapplication programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, PIM(personal information management) programs, word processing programs,spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, andso forth. System 802 also includes non-volatile storage 868 withinmemory 862. Non-volatile storage 868 may be used to store persistentinformation that should not be lost if system 802 is powered down.Applications 866 may use and store information in non-volatile storage868, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, andthe like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides onsystem 802 and is programmed to interact with a correspondingsynchronization application resident on a host computer to keep theinformation stored in non-volatile storage 868 synchronized withcorresponding information stored at the host computer. As should beappreciated, other applications may be loaded into memory 862 and run onthe device 175 a collaborative workspace application (CWA) 166,described herein.

System 802 has a power supply 870, which may be implemented as one ormore batteries. Power supply 870 might further include an external powersource, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle thatsupplements or recharges the batteries.

System 802 may also include a radio 872 that performs the function oftransmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. Radio 872facilitates wireless connectivity between system 802 and the “outsideworld”, via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissionsto and from radio 872 are conducted under control of OS 864. In otherwords, communications received by radio 872 may be disseminated toapplication programs 866 via OS 864, and vice versa.

Radio 872 allows system 802 to communicate with other computing devices,such as over a network. Radio 872 is one example of communication media.Communication media may typically be embodied by computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in amodulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of itscharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communicationmedia includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wiredconnection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and otherwireless media. The term computer readable media as used herein includesboth storage media and communication media.

This embodiment of system 802 is shown with two types of notificationoutput devices; LED 820 that can be used to provide visual notificationsand an audio interface 874 that can be used with speaker 825 to provideaudio notifications. These devices may be directly coupled to powersupply 870 so that when activated, they remain on for a durationdictated by the notification mechanism even though processor 860 andother components might shut down for conserving battery power. LED 820may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes actionto indicate the powered-on status of the device. Audio interface 874 isused to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from theuser. For example, in addition to being coupled to speaker 825, audiointerface 874 may also be coupled to a microphone 820 to receive audibleinput, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. In accordancewith embodiments of the present invention, the microphone 820 may alsoserve as an audio sensor to facilitate control of notifications, as willbe described below. System 802 may further include video interface 876that enables an operation of on-board camera 830 to record still images,video stream, and the like.

A mobile computing device implementing system 802 may have additionalfeatures or functionality. For example, the device may also includeadditional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) suchas, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage isillustrated in FIG. 8B by storage 868. Computer storage media mayinclude volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information, suchas computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data.

Data/information generated or captured by the device 175 and stored viathe system 802 may be stored locally on the device 175, as describedabove, or the data may be stored on any number of storage media that maybe accessed by the device via the radio 872 or via a wired connectionbetween the device 175 and a separate computing device 405 associatedwith the device 175, for example, a server computer in a distributedcomputing network 415 such as the Internet. As should be appreciatedsuch data/information may be accessed via the device 175 via the radio872 or via a distributed computing network 415. Similarly, suchdata/information may be readily transferred between computing devicesfor storage and use according to well-known data/information transferand storage means, including electronic mail and collaborativedata/information sharing systems.

FIG. 9 illustrates a system architecture for providing communicationsand content associated with a collaborative work session to variousclient devices via a distributed computing environment before during orafter a work session, as described above. As described previously, acollaborative workspace application 166 allows for multi-user andmulti-device collaboration. Communications and content conducted anddeveloped or edited in association with a collaborative work session mayalso be stored in different communication channels or other storagetypes. For example, work session communications and content along withinformation from which they are developed may be stored using directoryservices 922, web portals 924, mailbox services 926, instant messagingstores 928 and social networking sites 930. The systems/applications 166may use any of these types of systems or the like for enablingcollaborative work session communications and content for storing samein a store 167. A server 165 may provide collaborative work sessioncommunications and content to clients. As one example, server 165 may bea web server providing collaborative work session communications andcontent over the web. Server 165 may provide online collaborative worksession communications and content over the web to clients through anetwork 160. Examples of clients that may obtain collaborative worksession communications and content include computing device 105, whichmay include any general purpose personal computer, a tablet computingdevice 180 and/or mobile computing device 175 which may include smartphones. Any of these devices may obtain collaborative work sessioncommunications and content from the store 167.

Embodiments of the present invention, for example, are described abovewith reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations ofmethods, systems, and computer program products according to embodimentsof the invention. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur outof the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown insuccession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or theblocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending uponthe functionality/acts involved.

While certain embodiments of the invention have been described, otherembodiments may exist. Furthermore, although embodiments of the presentinvention have been described as being associated with data stored inmemory and other storage mediums, data can also be stored on or readfrom other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storagedevices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or a CD-ROM, a carrier wave fromthe Internet, or other forms of RAM or ROM. Further, the disclosedmethods' stages may be modified in any manner, including by reorderingstages and/or inserting or deleting stages, without departing from theinvention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications or variations may be made in the present invention withoutdeparting from the scope or spirit of the invention. Other embodimentsof the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromconsideration of the specification and practice of the inventiondisclosed herein.

We claim:
 1. A method for providing a collaborative work session,comprising: associating a plurality of work session participants with acollaborative work session; displaying, on a computer-generated display,information for identifying each of the plurality of work sessionparticipants; reporting, on a computer-generated display, informationconcerning each of the plurality of work session participants for reviewby each other of the plurality of work session participants; receivingtracking information that identifies, for each work session participant,a proportion of a duration of the collaborative work session in whichthe work session participant actively participated in the collaborativework session; reporting the tracking information for review by one ormore of the plurality of work session participants; receiving one ormore content items from one or more of the one or more work sessionparticipants; and displaying the received one or more content items onthe computer-generated display.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thecomputer-generated display includes a computer-generated display of awall-disposed integrated computing device and display.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the reporting includes reporting one or more task itemsassociated with the collaborative work session and mapping one or moreof the one or more task items to one or more of the plurality of worksession participants.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reportingincludes reporting news information relevant to the collaborative worksession.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising capturing audioand/or video input from one or more of the plurality of work sessionparticipants for providing audio and/or video conferencing between oneor more of the plurality of work session participants participating inthe collaborative work session at a first location and one or more ofthe plurality of work session participants participating in thecollaborative work session at a second location.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein displaying, on a computer-generated display, information foridentifying each of the plurality of work session participants includesdisplaying an identifying image for each of the plurality of worksession participants for distinguishing each of the plurality of worksession participants from one another.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereindisplaying, on a computer-generated display, information for identifyingeach of the plurality of work session participants includes displayingpresence status information for each of the plurality of work sessionparticipants.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying presencestatus information for each of the plurality of work sessionparticipants includes displaying calendar information for each of theplurality of work session participants.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising displaying a navigation pane on a computer-generateddisplay to allow one or more of the plurality of work sessionparticipants to navigate through the one or more content items on thecomputer-generated display.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving one or more communications from one or more of theplurality of work session participants, the one or more communicationsbeing directed to the work session, and displaying the one or morecommunications on the computer-generated display for review by theplurality of work session participants.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein receiving one or more communications from one or more of theplurality of work session participants includes receiving a message fromone or more of the plurality of work session participants indicating astatus of attendance of the one or more of the plurality of work sessionparticipants to the collaborative work session.
 12. The method of claim10, wherein receiving one or more communications from one or more of theplurality of work session participants includes receiving one or morework session content items directed to the work session, and whereindisplaying the one or more communications on the computer-generateddisplay for review by the plurality of work session participantsincludes displaying the one or more work session content items on thecomputer-generated display.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein one ormore of the plurality of work session participants is situated remotelyfrom one or more other of the plurality of work session participants andwherein the work session, including any display of any work sessioninformation is distributed among any of the work session participantsand is displayed on a computer-generated display associated with each ofthe remotely situated work session participants.
 14. The method of claim1, prior to associating a plurality of work session participants with acollaborative work session, further comprising logging one or more ofthe plurality of work session participants into the collaborative worksession according to one or more log-in means.
 15. The method of claim14, further comprising limiting a display on the computer-generateddisplay of information, including content items, associated with anywork session participant associated with the collaborative work sessionwho is not logged into the collaborative work session.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, wherein logging one or more of the plurality of work sessionparticipants into the collaborative work session according to one ormore log-in means includes logging one or more of the plurality of worksession participants into the work session automatically when presenceinformation for the one or more of the plurality of work sessionparticipants indicates the one or more of the plurality of work sessionparticipants is available for participation in the work session.
 17. Themethod of claim 14, wherein logging one or more of the plurality of worksession participants into the collaborative work session according toone or more log-in means further comprises providing one or more worksession access options to a work session participant logged into thecollaborative work session.
 18. A computer-readable storage devicecontaining computer-executable instructions which when executed by acomputer perform a method for providing a collaborative work session,comprising: joining a collaborative work session having a plurality ofwork session participants; displaying information for identifying eachof the plurality of work session participants; receiving trackinginformation that identifies, for each work session participant, aproportion of a duration of the collaborative work session in which thework session participant actively participated in the collaborative worksession of the plurality of work; reporting the tracking information onthe computer-generated display for review; and receiving one or morecontent items from one or more of the one or more work sessionparticipants, and displaying the received one or more content items onthe computer-generated display.
 19. A system for providing acollaborative work session, comprising: a processor; a memory includingcomputer-executable instructions which when executed by the processorprovide: a collaborative work session application operative to:associate a plurality of work session participants with a collaborativework session; display on a computer-generated display information foridentifying each of the plurality of work session participants;determine, for each work session participant, a proportion of a durationof the collaborative work session in which the work session participantactively participated in the collaborative work session; display on thecomputer-generated display an indication of the proportion determined;display one or more content items received from one or more of theplurality of work session participants on the computer-generateddisplay, the one or more content items including one or more of messagesor one or more types of data; and display a navigation pane on acomputer-generated display to allow one or more of the plurality of worksession participants to navigate through the one or more content itemson the computer-generated display.
 20. The system of claim 19, whereinthe computer-generated display includes an indication of a percentage ofspeaking of the plurality of work session participants during the worksession.
 21. The system of claim 19, wherein the collaborative worksession application also is operative to determine which of theplurality of work session participants is speaking at any given timeduring the work session, and wherein the computer-generated display alsodisplays an indication of which of the plurality of work sessionparticipants is speaking at any given time during the work session.